The Enchanter

Disappointed

Chapter 1

        “Happy New Year!” greeted the tv, causing the whole room to raise their glasses and cheer. I raised mine in unison, happy that a new year had dawned upon us. 2013 wasn’t that bad, but it seriously could’ve been better.

          “Happy New Year my wonderful colleagues!” Tyra added, looking around at the room. “Here’s to another year of being a receptionist for Modelogic!” I smiled and toasted her. Not only did I love my job, but Tyra did too.

          “Ah, I see you’re happy Ora!” Kimberly smiled next to me. I looked at her and smiled back, nodding, happy I had invited her. My job had had a New Year’s party and I was enjoying myself. It was only a small party, very few were invited.

          “Here’s to many more years of taking sexy, fierce pictures!” Lionel announced. “Maybe I can finally get you behind the camera Ora!” I shook my head. Lionel had been trying for years to get me to model, it never worked.

          “Maybe one day Lionel, maybe one day,” I answered, tapping his nose. He shook his head and took a sip of his drink.

          “You’re too beautiful to be Elisa’s assistant,” he complimented making me blush.

          “Ay dios mio, she’s fine Lionel,” Elisa interjected. Elisa had been my boss ever since I had arrived. She was the out-of-state recruiter for the company. She was always trying to bring fresh faces into Richmond, and I had to admit, she did a good job at it.

          “She’ll never be fine until Lionel’s happy,” Tyra teased, stealing a glance at Lionel. He batted his hand into the air and shook his head.

          “I’m the photographer, I know beauty when I see it,” he defended. I took a long gulp of my wine, ignoring the performances on the television. New Year’s celebration usually became wack to me after the ball dropped. It was even worse, seeing as I wasn’t in New York to see it this year. But, the thing that made it two times as worse was that Kendra wasn’t here for a New Years kiss. Kimberly pulled me by my arm, away from my friends.

          “Where’s Kendra?” she asked, whispering. I shrugged.

          “She’s at a New Year’s party,” I replied. Kendra was my longtime girlfriend, had been for three years. We had met when I was twenty-one and I fell in love.

          “What’s she promoting this time?”

          “The party she’s at.” I rolled my eyes and walked back over to my friends, not wanting to talk about Kendra. Kendra didn’t want anybody to know she was gay, so she tried to keep us a secret. This meant we didn’t attend events together and if we did, we were “best friends”. It bothered me at first, but over time I got used to it.

          “This is around the time where the ball literally drops,” Tyra said, referencing to the television. She was right; whoever stuck around for the performances was a trooper. After one or two, I usually knocked out. It was around that time that all my excitement started to cease to exist.

          “New Year, new me I guess,” I mumbled, quietly to myself. Literally, I had done everything that everyone else does. That old intimidating New Year’s list people made every year. The thought of the thing itself turned my stomach, I wasn’t really sure I could do it. At the top of the list, the first thing I wanted to do was confront Kendra about our status, but that was a battle within itself. I swallowed at the thought, and contemplated on whether I could actually do it.